Winter weather has arrived in full force, well ahead of the calendar date, and is reaching down near record lows.

The National Weather Service forecast the low to fall to 2 degrees tonight. That’s slightly warmer than the record low of -5, but still plenty cold enough to pack homeless shelters and freeze exposed pipes.

Temperatures today are expected to stay in the upper teens in the metro area; the National Weather Service forecasts a high of 19 degrees for Denver.

Thing warm up a bit during the day Friday, with a forecast high of 36 degrees and mostly sunny skies expected.

The 7,800-acre Winter Valley Fire in Moffat County was 100 percent contained Tuesday as visible smoke from interior islands showed minimal creeping behavior, according to the Bureau of Land Management.